Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Wildcat11's thoughts on Linfield Legend Bruce Assily

I don’t know where I should start about the great Bruce Assily that I didn’t already put up on the video. I think the highlight clip and Coach Smith’s comments already capture the type of player that Bruce was for the ‘Cats: powerful, athletic, explosive, and a dominate force. Bruce made life easier for the rest of us on the defensive line during the late 90’s and what you should know is the type of person #8 is off the field. He’s a man that has a good heart and cares about the welfare of others.On top of that Bruce is a crack up.He would always leave you in stitches when he would break out the ukulele and spin a song about 7-11 and nachos.

As a teammate probably my fondest memories of Bruce was during practice when the defensive line would be constantly ragging on each other until the moment we went to one-on-one pass rush with the offensive line. It was almost a daily clinic in watching Bruce just brutalize his o-linemen teammates with a bull rush, a quick swim to the outside, or my favorite Bruce move…”The Hump”. The Hump move is something the NFL great Reggie White made famous when he would get a tackle bailing out up-field and then White would violently club the tackle with his inside arm and this would cause the poor tackle to get tossed like a rag doll.(seen here at the :17 mark) You had to be a special talent to pull this move off with any success and Bruce had the hips and power to throw the Hump and have it find the mark. During one early practice in 1998 the staff sent over some poor freshman tackle (who would wind up starting later in his career) who was ready to take on Bruce. First time out of the shoot and Bruce threw his Hump move and I swear he tossed this 250lb Frosh a good five yards in the air onto his can. It was fall out funny and just a small example of the raw power of our jolly defensive end. However, don’t let the easy going Hawaiian demeanor fool you in terms of the intensity that Bruce would bring to the huddle and field. Bruce was a true warrior on the field. I played the opposite defensive end position of Bruce and I was thankful every time we hit the field together. To be truthful, I was mainly thankful because that meant that I didn’t have to play “anchor” (D-End who lines up between the Tight End and Tackle) and I could line up on the air side. I wasn’t nearly strong enough to hack at the 6 tech spot but Bruce always had my back and let me run around free on the other side. He never complained about it but I suspect that he enjoyed dishing out the punishment to the tight ends around the Northwest Conference.

Bottom line is that Bruce was a special football player. He was a rare blend of talents that defensive coaches dream about. Some guys really excel in one area but lack in others but there was no weak spot in Bruce’s game. He could do it all as a defensive lineman: speed rush the QB “Check”, power rush the QB “Check”, not lose ground on convoy blocks “check”, slip a block and make a play in the backfield “Check”, stand up a tackle with ease “Check”, finish plays “Check”. Bruce Assily was always our defensive line’s strongest link.

Nice piece on Bruce. I had the chance to see him last November at Portland State University where his little brother currently plays football. Your clips brought back great memories - thanks for sharing.

My freshman year, D line was running through some offensive plays (alone of course) and I was given the opportunity to pull and trap Bruce. The first time we ran it, he ran up field ” fat, dumb and happy” and never saw me coming. I had visions of earning playing time if I could flat back the great Bruiser, so I hit him with everything I had. Just at the last second, I swear all he did was turn his head toward me, and I went from full speed ahead to crumbling like a stack of saltine crackers. I'd never been hit that hard in my life. My neck hurt; my bell was rung; my pride was destroyed. Then we ran the same play again... Twice. He was such an amazing guy, both on and off the field. He will be missed. Ryan, I'm sorry for your loss.

My freshman year, D line was running through some offensive plays (alone of course) and I was given the opportunity to pull and trap Bruce. The first time we ran it, he ran up field ” fat, dumb and happy” and never saw me coming. I had visions of earning playing time if I could flat back the great Bruiser, so I hit him with everything I had. Just at the last second, I swear all he did was turn his head toward me, and I went from full speed ahead to crumbling like a stack of saltine crackers. I'd never been hit that hard in my life. My neck hurt; my bell was rung; my pride was destroyed. Then we ran the same play again... Twice. He was such an amazing guy, both on and off the field. He will be missed. Ryan, I'm sorry for your loss.

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Why "ADvantage Catdome"

I’ve had a number of people ask me why the blog is called ADvantage Catdome. So instead of repeating the explanation over and over, I thought I would just lay it out here.

Back in 1986 my father took me to my very first Linfield game, the final regular season game vs. Pacific (Linfield would roll the Boxers on their way to their 3rd NAIA title). I was 10 years old at the time and I can remember seeing these banners the pep squad/students have hung up on the fences around the Catdome. They read “We have the ADvantage”.

I pulled on my dad’s shirt and asked him what that meant. He pointed to the coaches box in the far back of Memorial stadium and said “You see that man there? That’s Coach Rustchman. He’s Linfield’s advantage.”

It wasn't until later that my dad told me Coach Rustchman’s first name was “Ad”. Get it now? Good. Go ‘Cats!